Nearly all of the preseason predictions centered around Nick Marshall, Gus Malzahn's devastating running game and the returning starters on the Tigers' offensive line.

Auburn's defense paid close attention.

"All we hear about is the offense," defensive end LaDarius Owens said. "Nothing about the defense. We want to get our names out there."

Despite giving up 420.7 yards per game last season, Auburn's defense made key strides in Ellis Johnson's first season at the helm. The Tigers ranked 47th in scoring defense, 18 spots better than 2012, finished 10th in the country in red zone defense and 13th in third-down defense..

The remaining members of the defense feel like their contributions to Auburn's magical turnaround season have been overlooked.

"Yeah, I do (feel overlooked). The beginning of the season, before the offense got to rolling, the defense kept us in a lot of those games. Mississippi State, Ole Miss, a lot of those tight games," Owens said. "And the biggest thing with us, we gave up a lot of big plays, but as far as somebody just beating us up and down the field, that didn't happen."

Owens, a senior starter, didn't stop at those two early SEC wins, pointing out that Auburn's defense held Georgia in check before Aaron Murray's fourth-quarter comeback, that the Tigers kept Auburn's offense in the game against Alabama except for Amari Cooper's thunderbolts, that the Tigers held Florida State's high-powered offense in check until the final drive.

"We just slipped up at the end of a few games," Owens said.

Not all of his teammates have kept the same record of wrongs that Owens, who has used every slight as fuel this offseason, has kept in his mental ledger.

But they all believe they're ready to take the next step.

"A lot of people don't see all the stops and stuff that we made," linebacker Cassanova McKinzy said. "It's alright if we are overlooked. Last year was our first year in the system, and this year is going to be way more physical."

For the first time in four years, Auburn's defense is working in the same system under a returning defensive coordinator, a luxury few of the Tigers' defenders have ever experienced.

In addition, despite the loss of a dependable senior class of defenders led by first-round pick Dee Ford and Kick Six hero Chris Davis -- and the early loss of Carl Lawson -- Auburn's defense returns eight starters from last year's unit.

All of that familiarity has produced a learning curve that has moved at warp speed through the first three days of training camp.

Even Johnson had to admit his defense has come a long way in the scheme.

"We have got an excellent retention and carry-over," Johnson said on Sunday. "It's just amazing how far ahead we are from where we were about the same time last year as far as getting things done, not having repeated mistakes, and just kind of knowing how things fit together."

Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson talks to the media after the third day of fall practice Sunday, Aug. 3, 2014, in Auburn, Ala. (Julie Bennett/jbennett@al.com)

Despite the lack of preseason hype, the Tigers' defenders have set their sights on lifting Auburn's defense back to the realm of the SEC elite, a spot it hasn't occupied since the Tommy Tuberville era.

"We've got a lot of starters coming back, and since I've been here, I've been in two or three different defensive systems and we've never had a chance to get into (a rhythm)," McKinzy said. "But now I feel like we can be top-five or even the best."

If the Tigers' defense makes those kinds of strides, Auburn's defenders won't have to worry about being forgotten this season.

"(We're) very overlooked," linebacker Kris Frost said. "I feel like this year, we're going to show a lot of people a lot of things, and we're going to take care of that."